Lexington Debt and EQV by Year

Equalized Valuation is the total value of commercial, industrial and residential property in a town.

Year Equalized Valuation (EQV) Total Indebtedness
2000 4,841,620,900
2002 6,095,404,200
2004 7,407,812,900
2006 8,232,742,600
2008 8,583,888,200
2010 8,647,848,600
2012 8,605,490,800
2014 9,270,431,600 106,330,423
2016 10,863,785,200 116,332,659

These values were obtained from the Massachusetts Municipal Data Bank.

Commentary

The years 2008-2012 are bolded to show the impact which macroeconomic factors have on Lexington’s equalized valuation.

If the town’s equalized valuation fails to increase, then Lexington’s ability to afford additional capital projects (such as Lexington High School) will be limited.

Detailed Debt Analysis: 2017

Lexington’s Official Statement (OS) provides the most up to date view on Lexington debt. According to this statement, Lexington has $141 million in long term debt outstanding, although not all categories are subject to the general debt limit of 5% of EQV.

Here is a summary of Lexington’s long term debt:

Debt Type Total Amount (million)
General $64 mm
School $62 mm
Water & Sewer $8 mm
CPA $5 mm
MWRA $2 mm
Compost $1 mm
Total Long Term $141 mm

Based on the official statement, about $27 million is not subject to the debt limit of 5% of equalized valuation, in which case $114 million is the relevant amount of debt subject to the 5% limit. At $10.8 billion EQV, the maximum permissible debt is $540 million, but as we show borrowing at 4%+ would put Lexington in unusual company.



Detailed schedule of how debt will be serviced by debt type: